This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for reducing or minimizing vibrations in the fairing of a flight vehicle, such as an aircraft or spacecraft, thereby also reducing noise and fatigue caused by such vibrations.
Aircraft, spacecraft and other flight vehicles often experience substantial vibrations, noise and fatigue in fairings and, in particular, in wing-to-body fairings which are attached between the wings and body of the aircraft, spacecraft or other flight vehicle. Some prior art devices may have involved heavy, complex, excessive parts and/or expensive noise- and vibration-damping devices in an effort to reduce vibrations, noise and fatigue. However, many of these prior art devices do not sufficiently reduce noise, vibration and/or fatigue, and/or may lead to increased weight, increased complexity, an increased number of parts, an increased cost, and/or other issues. For example, in the past insulation blankets have been added to aircraft cabins in order to reduce the cabin noise to acceptable levels. These blankets added weight to the aircraft.
In the case of fairings comprising a multiplicity of panels fastened to a support structure that is part of the flight vehicle, fairing panel vibration may additionally cause panels to loosen.
There is a need for a method of constructing fairings that reduces vibration, fatigue and resultant cabin noise by dissipational damping of vibrational energy and its conversion to heat energy. There is also a need to solve the problem of fairing panels vibrating and loosening.